4 ms·

Same question also answered by Max Tegmark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybIxWQKZss8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybIxWQKZss8 Stephen Wolfram: https://w

by Reedx 7y ago

Same question also answered by Max Tegmark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybIxWQKZss8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybIxWQKZss8 Stephen Wolfram: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUCwtLTUPQ4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUCwtLTUPQ4 Steven Weinberg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpMk9G-ddiM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpMk9G-ddiM I particularly liked Max's answer who neatly makes the distinction between the structure (we discover) and the language (we invent). We're free to invent the names, but not the structures.

7thaccount 7y ago
Max Tegmark has some fun books. Apparently he got to be at the forefront of some discoveries as he and his wife knew C++ and would do all the after the fact data analysis. If you've ever been around a campfire with a good storyteller that has their audience at the edge of their seat, I felt like this in some spots.
throw0101a 7y ago
Entire playlist: * https://www.closertotruth.com/series/mathematics-invented-or-discovered https://www.closertotruth.com/series/mathematics-invented-or... Gregory Chaitin was interesting as well: * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RLdSvQ-OF0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RLdSvQ-OF0 The (apocryphal?) story about Godel not believing in empirical science and only in a priori truths was interesting.
nikofeyn 7y ago
> I particularly liked Max's answer who neatly makes the distinction between the structure (we discover) and the language (we invent). We're free to invent the names, but not the structures. i came here to give my opinion, but this is pretty much it. i need to read max tegmark's books. the idea that how we got to the structures and concepts we find is undoubtedly invented, because we've already seen that we've re-invented our methods multiple times. but the structures and concepts don't really change. we extend them, but there seems to be some set of structures and concepts that get settled to. if we found some alien species that has mathematics, we'd probably find that there's some mapping between our structures modulo small choices that were made.

by Reedx 7y ago

7thaccount 7y ago

Max Tegmark has some fun books. Apparently he got to be at the forefront of some discoveries as he and his wife knew C++ and would do all the after the fact data analysis. If you've ever been around a campfire with a good storyteller that has their audience at the edge of their seat, I felt like this in some spots.

throw0101a 7y ago

Entire playlist: * https://www.closertotruth.com/series/mathematics-invented-or-discovered https://www.closertotruth.com/series/mathematics-invented-or... Gregory Chaitin was interesting as well: * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RLdSvQ-OF0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RLdSvQ-OF0 The (apocryphal?) story about Godel not believing in empirical science and only in a priori truths was interesting.

nikofeyn 7y ago

> I particularly liked Max's answer who neatly makes the distinction between the structure (we discover) and the language (we invent). We're free to invent the names, but not the structures. i came here to give my opinion, but this is pretty much it. i need to read max tegmark's books. the idea that how we got to the structures and concepts we find is undoubtedly invented, because we've already seen that we've re-invented our methods multiple times. but the structures and concepts don't really change. we extend them, but there seems to be some set of structures and concepts that get settled to. if we found some alien species that has mathematics, we'd probably find that there's some mapping between our structures modulo small choices that were made.